A furniture wholesale company headquartered in Okawa City, Fukuoka Prefecture, conducted an on-site inspection on suspicion of violating the Antimonopoly Act on May 26 for requesting that overseas brand chairs not be sold at reduced prices when they were wholesale to retailers, according to interviews with people involved.
The person who underwent the on-site inspection was Seki Furniture, a major furniture wholesaler in Okawa City, Fukuoka Prefecture.
According to the people involved, the company is suspected of violating the Antimonopoly Act, which prohibits binding resale prices, such as requiring retailers not to sell their foreign-brand office chairs at reduced prices.
According to its website, Seki Furniture wholesale furniture to more than 4700,180 furniture stores and interior shops nationwide, with annual sales of about <> billion yen and the top sales in Japan in the furniture wholesale industry.
The Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) is suspected of preventing retailers from setting prices freely by suggesting that they would cancel shipments if they sold at a reduced price against the background that the overseas brands it handles are highly popular among consumers, and it is expected to investigate the details of the transactions.